Custodians' Contract Approved

School Rental Fees Also Discussed

September 14, 2005|By KEN BYRON: Courant Staff Writer

ENFIELD — The board of education on Tuesday approved a new contract for custodians that will transfer a few of them to the town along with the responsibility for maintaining the high school's playing fields.

The town's new role in maintaining the fields is the most important element of the contract. A referendum on spending $5.7 million to rebuild the fields at Enfield and Enrico Fermi high schools is scheduled for November. But the town would not go ahead with the project unless it was given the maintenance duties.

The custodians approved the contract Monday and the board's 6-3 vote was the last step needed for the referendum to go forward.

Members Roger Jones, Lynn Scull and Nicholas Sinsigalli cast the dissenting votes. All three said they voted no because of the maintenance issue.

``There has been an insufficient amount of detail given about how the town will handle all the grounds crew's duties,'' Jones said. ``All they are saying is `Don't worry, we'll take care of it' and that's not enough.''

The four-year contract provides pay increases for the custodians of 3.5 percent for the first two years and 2.5 percent for the remaining years.

In other business, Superintendent of Schools John Gallacher asked the board to start examining when to waive the rental fees it charges for use of school buildings.

Gallacher said he recently refused to waive those fees for a local business that wanted to use the auditorium at Enrico Fermi for an event to raise money for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Board policies let Gallacher waive rental fees at his own discretion.

The board took no action on Gallacher's request but will discuss reviewing the rental fee policy at its Sept. 27 meeting.

Gallacher said he refused this most recent request because the board, by allowing free usage of the auditorium, would essentially be making an in-kind donation. Gallacher said he thinks the board should approve making donations of any sort. Gallacher said he is also concerned that making such an in-kind donation might violate the town charter.

Board members said they want to help disaster relief organizations but agreed that guidelines on waiving rental fees are needed.

Organizations using school facilities must also pay costs associated with opening up a school building after school hours, such as overtime pay for janitors. Board members said they want to make sure the board does not have to pay for those expenses every time a school building is used for a charitable event.